By Rob Cole
Bring on Man City and Pep Guardiola’s multi-million-pound superstars. Newport County fans must now feel that anyone is possible for their side in the FA Cup.
Another amazing night at Rodney Parade saw them follow up their win over Leicester City in the last round with a 2-0 replay triumph over Middlesbrough to reach the fifth round for the first time in 70 years.
Take another bow Michael Flynn, surely now one of the most respected and admired young managers in the lower leagues, and join him on the top step Robbie Willmott and Padraig Amond. It was their wonder goals that put their club on course for a potential £1m bonus for reaching the next round.
Flynn said: “It’s nothing more than we deserved tonight we were absolutely outstanding. We should have had a penalty and should have scored more than twice too.
“At half time I told them, ‘you are going to get another opportunity.’ We had created too much not to get another one. We stuck to our game plan. Boro changed their shape a few times which shows how well we did.
“Robbie Willmott was outstanding. An old fashioned winger, he is very versatile, he’s an outstanding talent and he should have played higher in his career.
“They can match Championship players. I don’t know what it is with them. We can play like that but not every week in League Two.”
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As well as pocketing the £180,000 prize for reaching the fifth round, they will also now pocket £250,000 for being the longest surviving team from League Two. Then you can add in more match receipts, TV money and the sheer prestige of meeting the reigning Premier League champions – it could be a game changer for the club.
In what had been termed the ‘Battle of Pill’, it was Flynn who came out on top of fellow Newport-born manager Tony Pulis. That 94th minute equaliser in the first game from Matty Dolan came back to haunt Pulis and his team and the former County player endured a homecoming from hell in terrible conditions in his old home town.
Willmott scored a stunning solo goal to get Newport singing in the rain before Amond smashed home another unforgettable FA Cup strike to complete the demolition job on Boro.
Guardiola’s pampered millionaires won’t be relishing the journey to Newport’s unforgiving cauldron, where Leicester, Tottenham, Leeds and Boro have all felt the heat in the last two seasons.
It had been 70 years and a day since Newport County had reached the fifth round of the FA Cup, but with the rain hammering down on the balding Rodney Parade pitch, the scene was set for another historic upset.
After Dolan’s last-minute equaliser setup a homecoming for Newport native Pulis, the veteran Boro manager knew nothing short of a full-strength team selection would be enough to book a glamour tie with Guardiola’s side in the fifth round.
Middlesbrough sounded an early warning when they played a short corner to Jonny Howson on the edge of the box, but his effort flew a yard wide as the visitors looked to silence the Rodney Parade crowd. They were up in arms moments later when Adam Clayton looked to have handled a cross inside the box.
Stuart Atwell waved away the appeals, before Boro survived another scare when Mickey Demetriou’s blocked shot led to a goalmouth scramble, but Amond failed to steer Jamille Matt’s scuffed shot on target.
Newport got a reminder of their opponents’ quality moments later when Lewis Wing played Jordan Hugill through, only to see the striker’s low shot hit the outside of the post. The hosts responded with a pair near misses as Pulis’ men sat back and invited the pressure.
First Dimi Konstantopoulos closed down a close range Amond header, before Jos Labadie went close to getting on the end of Robbie Willmott’s deep cross. Pulis switched to four at the back under heavy pressure, but their goalkeeper had to get them out of trouble with a reaction save to deny Amond’s diving header and keep the scores level at half-time.
Pulis brough Rajiv Van La Parra on at half-time, but it changed nothing as Willmott made his side’s dominance pay two minutes after the restart. The flying wing sparked a rapid counter-attack to charge 50 yards downfield and unleash a shot from the edge of the box that Konstantopoulos could only palm into the net.
The nightmare became a reality for Pulis thanks to Amond’s powerful strike in the 67th minute. The prolific striker added to his collection of goals against Leicester and Spurs when he ran unmarked in the box to latch onto Willmott’s low corner and rattle his 18th of the season into the top corner.
Flynn’s men toyed with their Championship opponents as they saw out the tie to book a dream clash with City.
Pulis admitted: “They were the better team, they ran all over us. It was men against boys. Forget the conditions, you have to match people and that’s the real disappointment.
“Give them credit, they were fantastic tonight and they deserve their win. The tempo of the game was really poor from us. I am desperately disappointed at the lack of real commitment. We were outfought and outplayed.
“We’ve been fantastic away from home this year. They have regularly turned up and put in performances but it’s different circumstances tonight and we never coped with it.”
